‘Vampire Diaries’ Recap: Elena Faces Her First Kill

With her brother’s life at stake (pun!) Elena found herself in a dark place — but did she give in to her murderous urges?

A funny thing happened when Elena (Nina Dobrev) sprouted fangs: People actually started to see some value in her! So when Connor (Todd Williams) took three of Mystic Falls’ finest humans hostage on the Nov. 8 episode of The Vampire Diaries, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) encouraged Elena to help out, despite Stefan’s (Paul Wesley) stern warning. And I’ll give you one guess as to which brother she listened to.

Channeling her inner Katherine, Elena busted into the Mystic Grill to save Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) and the others. And even though a little explosion caused Elena to lose Connor, she eventually caught up with him in the tunnel — promptly feeding on him, then snapping his little hunter neck.

But because Elena is a crackpot of emotions, the next scene found her crying in the woods and digging a hole to bury Connor in. Her horrifying reaction continued that night, as she hallucinated that someone wrote “KILLER” in blood in her bathroom. Let the insanity begin!

Stefan also revealed the truth about the vampire cure to Damon, which prompted him to pose an interesting question: Does he want to cure Elena because he thinks she can’t survive as a vampire, or because he really only loves her as a human?

“I’m fine with her either way,” Damon said. “So if I do this, I’m doing it for you.” Oh snap!

What happens in the Appalachian Mountains stays in the Appalachian Mountains:

While Tyler (Michael Trevino) and Caroline (Candice Accola) largely stayed out of the hostage situation, they had their own drama to deal with at home. During a particularly foolish phone call, Klaus (Joseph Morgan) brought up Tyler’s past with Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) — and, of course, Caroline’s super hearing picked up every last word.

Tyler later explained to Caroline that nothing happened between him and Hayley, and he’s just letting Klaus think he has something on him, but I’m not so sure Caroline is buying it. And frankly, I’m not sure I am, either.

(Side note: Who else died of giggles when Hayley said, “I don’t do teen drama?” Phoebe, girl, you live teen drama!)

Jeremy Gilbert — vampire hunter?

Jeremy got shot during his little stand-off with Connor at the Mystic Grill, so for those of you keeping score at home, this is the second time he’s been gunned down at his place of employment. I know it’s hard to find a good job in this economy, but there’s got to be something else out there. Anything, really.

And even though he made it out unscathed — thanks, vampire blood — Jeremy was left with a far worse mark: there’s a hunter tattoo forming on his hand! I know The CW foreshadowed this in the promotional photos for season four, but it didn’t make me any more prepared. Or any less worried.

And now, for my favorite part of every recap: The weekly Stelena/Delena breakdown:

It was, admittedly, not a great week for either Salvatore ship. Though Elena listened to Damon over Stefan, she quickly changed her tune and made Damon the scapegoat for her own mistake. I was starting to like Elena as a vampire, but now I’m not so sure.

How did you feel about this week’s episode? Do you want Elena to become a human? Do you think Tyler did more with Hayley than he’s admitting? And how do you predict Jeremy’s new dilemma will play out? Drop me a comment with your thoughts and heories!